I saw the sign on the building from the highway last weekend and thought they were just converting the hotel into condos. I was thinking that was a smart idea as the ammenities are already in place. Didn't know they were razing the site and starting from scratch.

These are actually highrises- 4 towers between 19 and 24 storeys...here's an article from earlier this year, which also mentions a similar project at the Valhalla Inn site on the opposite side of the 427 as well...

Hotel building falls to condos

Development will set precedent for others along Hwy. 427 corridor, including Valhalla Inn: planner

February 14, 2008 06:31 PM
TAMARA SHEPHARD

Toronto's first Holiday Inn, as well an historic landmark off Hwy. 427, is coming down to make way for a four-tower condominium - setting a precedent for other sites along the 427 corridor, says a city planner.
The Etobicoke York Community Council voted Tuesday night to approve the 19- to 24-tower project after the item was delayed more than two hours because of tight scheduling with an earlier agenda item.

"The density is appropriate," said Brian Gallaugher, west district senior planner. "What happens at 2 Holiday Dr. will set a precedent for other sites along the Hwy. 427 corridor, but I don't feel it sets a bad precedent. Each (development application) has to be evaluated on its own merits."

A similar development is proposed to turn the Valhalla Inn on the other side of Hwy. 427 into three, 20-odd storey condos. A second community consultation meeting on that proposal is expected in late spring.

Last June, many of the 90 residents who attended that initial Valhalla meeting argued the proposed condos are too tall, with too many units and will wreak havoc on traffic in their neighbourhood of The East Mall between Bloor Street West and Burnhamthorpe Road.

The Holiday Inn development proposal calls for 887 units, split evenly between one- and two-bedroom suites, on land currently occupied by the former Ramada Inn on Holiday Drive, just south of Rathburn Road and Hwy. 427.

"Originally, it was a Holiday Inn in the '50s - the first in Toronto - but now it's hard for hotels to compete against airport-area hotels," said Ward 3 (Etobicoke Centre) Councillor Doug Holyday, who represents the area. "It's a fair development, and it's probably as good a development as we're going to get."

Carol Higgins disagreed. She was one of only four residents to address the committee.

"It's an eyesore. It's too big. It's too high," she said. "We can't get across the damn street to get a bus, and you're going to put more traffic there?"

New traffic lights will be installed at Holiday Drive and The West Mall as part of the project, as well as a pedestrian-priority system applied to three traffic lights on The West Mall, Gallaugher said.

All three of the abutting landowners - a 16-storey rental apartment building, a 19-storey condo, and a 94-unit low-rise condo townhouse development - support the project.

Community benefits include $700,000 to expand the day care for 31 children at Broadacres Junior School. Council voted to approve any leftover day care funds be given to the Etobicoke Civic Centre day care.

Another $475,000 will fund a new playground and water play area in Broadacres Park.

With all of these hotel/condo redevelopments are they still considering closing the smaller off-/on-ramps to the 427 (Holiday, Eva, Valhalla Inn and Gibbs) which was supposed to happen in conjunction with the Rathburn Rd. interchange redesign?

With space running out and traffic getting worse, Ontario's transportation ministry is considering a radical shift to the left.

Driving on the left-hand side of the road is one proposal put forward as part of the plan to improve the exit/enter ramps at Rathburn Rd. and Highway 427.

"It's an idea we're looking at," says James Fallows, senior project engineer overseeing the long-term reconstruction of the 427. "I don't know that radical change would go over too well. But at least it's on the table."

With the region's roads under increasing pressure to accommodate more vehicles and the needs of an expanding public transit system, unconventional options are being considered.

The second busiest highway in Greater Toronto, the 427 is due for a complete reconstruction by 2009. The ministry is taking the opportunity to see what, if anything, can be done to make the highway work better. "There are options all over," says Fallows. "We're floating ideas because we want to see what the public is willing to accept. There's a bundle of things that could be done. We're going to start with what improvements will help the operation of the highway."

Ideas put forward at public information meetings include:

Adding a Gardiner-to-427 on-ramp in the 427 express lanes.

Replacing the Dundas St. loop with a straight ramp to make room for bus-only lanes.

But driving on the left is by far the most "out-there" idea, raising more than a few eyebrows.

"The reaction of the public was: `We're all for change, but why should you consider that one?'" says Fallows. "It eliminates a lot of the left-hand turn movements. If you're eliminating crossing movements that are more dangerous, you could make everything safer."

The ministry calls the Rathburn/427 interchange, where there's no access to the northbound 427 and no room for south-side cloverleafs, "substandard." It is considering demolishing two north-side cloverleafs, and adding four ramps.

But MTO officials also want to avoid potentially dangerous left turns across traffic that might otherwise be required to go from westbound Rathburn to southbound 427, or eastbound Rathburn to northbound 427.

In the drive-on-the-left scenario, the westbound motorist on Rathburn would stop at lights on the east side of the bridge approaching the 427. When the light turns green, he'd be guided to cross over to the left side of the road. If he wished to go south on the 427, he would simply join the ramp on the left. To continue west on Rathburn, he would be guided back to the right lane at lights at the west side of the bridge. The reverse is happening to eastbound traffic.

"Sometimes we have to throw out something that's way out there to help focus in on what will work," says ministry spokesman Will MacKenzie. "I'd be extremely surprised if that saw any further light of day."

In truth, the idea may not be that radical. Driving on the left is coming in 2007 to Kansas City, Mo., which has congestion challenges with the city's downtown Front Street approaching Interstate 435. "We're separating Front St. into two little one-way roads, and crossing them on one side of the interchange, and when you get to the other side of the interchange, crossing them back. We don't have any conflicting left turns," says Susan McCubbins, a Missouri transportation project manager. "It increases the capacity of the interchange and reduces the severity and number of accidents."

Took forever to sell these, but knock the price down low with cheesy ad campaign, including a name change to "Sell off condos" and suddenly tower one is 90% sold and tower 2 is selling....

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